Moscow Rules (Gabriel Allon Series) 2008

Over the course of ten previous novels, Daniel Silva has established himself as one of the world s finest writers of international intrigue and espionage a worthy successor to such legends as Frederick Forsyth and John le Carre ("Chicago Sun-Times") and Gabriel Allon as one of the most intriguing heroes of any thriller series ("The Philadelphia Inquirer").

Now the death of a journalist leads Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spycraft, even he has something to learn. He s playing by Moscow rules now.

It is not the grim, gray Moscow of Soviet times but a new Moscow, awash in oil wealth and choked with bulletproof Bentleys. A Moscow where power resides once more behind the walls of the Kremlin and where critics of the ruling class are ruthlessly silenced. A Moscow where a new generation of Stalinists is plotting to reclaim an empire lost and to challenge the global dominance of its old enemy, the United States.

One such man is Ivan Kharkov, a former KGB colonel who built a global investment empire on the rubble of the Soviet Union. Hidden within that empire, however, is a more lucrative and deadly business. Kharkov is an arms dealer and he is about to deliver Russia s most sophisticated weapons to al-Qaeda. Unless Allon can learn the time and place of the delivery, the world will see the deadliest terror attacks since 9/11 and the clock is ticking fast.

Filled with rich prose and breathtaking turns of plot, "Moscow Rules" is at once superior entertainment and a searing cautionary tale about the new threats rising to the East and Silva s finest novel yet."